On Saturday night, a couple of accidents on I-75 in southern Bartow County shut down the interstate and injured several people.

At 8:18, Emerson Police, with Cartersville Fire and Bartow County deputies, went to investigate a crash on I-75 southbound near mile marker 286 (about a mile north of the Red Top Mountain Road exit in Emerson) in which a Chrysler Town & Country minivan got a flat tire in the right lane. The driver slowed down rapidly to maintain control. He tried to pull off onto the right shoulder when a tractor-trailer struck his minivan from behind.

One juvenile passenger was life-flighted to Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital. The driver received a ticket for driving on a canceled license before getting transportation to Piedmont Cartersville Medical Center for ankle pain. First responders transported eight other passengers in the van to Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the tractor-trailer received a citation for following too closely.

That crash closed all lanes.

At 8:52, Georgia State Troopers went to investigate a two-vehicle crash on I-75 southbound near mile marker 281 (about two miles south of the Allatoona Road exit in Emerson) involving a white 2023 Kenworth CMV car hauler and a black 2015 Audi A6.

The CMV was in the right lane when the Audi’s right front struck its left rear. The impact caused the Audi driver to lose control and pass the CMV car hauler in the middle lane before striking the right guardrail face.

The impact on the guardrail caused the front passenger to get ejected.

Troopers determined that the driver was under the influence.

First responders transported both passengers of the Audi to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Due to the extensive debris field, the two left lanes were closed for approximately 60 minutes.